“Size matters, but wholeness matters moreand Sailors matter most. ... At the end ofthe day, if we have a big enough Navy tomeet demand, and that Navy is whole, thenI think Sailors will feel like they belong toa service that is one that can live up to itspromise as a Navy and those Sailors will want to stay,” Adm.

William F. Moran, vice chief of naval operations (CNO), saidduring the Feb. 9 CNO podcast, “Soundings.”Gen. Glenn Walters, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, told theSenate Armed Services subcommittee on readiness Feb. 8, “The success of ourMarine Corps relies upon the high quality, character and capabilities of ourindividual Marines and civilians; they are the cornerstone of our readiness.”The primary concern of service leaders testifying with Moran and Waltersbefore the House Armed Services Committee on Feb. 7 and the Senate sub-committee is making sure their people have the tools and the training theyneed to succeed, and the ongoing constrained budget environment is sacri-ficing maintenance, sacrificing readiness. People matter most.

Despite the fiscal constraints and operational hurdles, our military per-sonnel rise to each and every challenge. In Seapower’s annual “Profiles inService” special section, we introduce you to some of these people, whooffer personal accounts of sea service life. From a Coast Guard seaman justout of boot camp to a World War II veteran and survivor of the attack onUSS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, each of the 11 people profiled in this issue tellsa story of a desire to serve, to carry on a family legacy, to see the world, orto be part of “something more.”CNO Adm. John Richardson talked about how competitive the recruitingspace is during a Jan. 17 Defense One Debrief Live: “A very small populationof the United States is even eligible for military service and, boy, there’san awful lot of people competing for that same population. So we’ve got topresent a very attractive suite of options to bring people in. It’s remarkablethat even in this very competitive space where we can’t compete in salary,still … we’re meeting those [recruiting] goals. ... It says an awful lot aboutthe dedication of this generation and their desire to be part of somethingbigger than themselves.”